Deleting Work Files and Sending Abusive Emails: The Country Where "Revenge Resignations" Are Common

Incomplete Handover, Data Deletion, Malicious Emails, and More
11.8% of Employees Have Experienced "Revenge Resignations"

In Japan, it has been found that 12% of people have experienced so-called "revenge resignations," where employees who quit their jobs disrupt work or send malicious emails out of dissatisfaction with their workplace.

According to the Mainichi Shimbun on September 9, Skora Consult, a Japanese management consulting firm, conducted an online survey in May of this year targeting 2,106 general employees and managers working at companies with more than 100 employees nationwide. The survey investigated the difficulties experienced when colleagues resigned. The most common response, at 29.0%, was "I and my colleagues became busier because we had to take over the work previously handled by the person who resigned."

Among the respondents, one in ten said they had experienced retaliatory behavior from someone who resigned. Specifically, 11.8% reported experiencing at least one of three types of "resignations involving retaliatory actions against the workplace": missing work handovers, resigning during busy periods, or leaking internal information; "deletion of work-related data before resignation"; or "sending complaints or malicious messages to the entire company via email or chat before leaving."

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Respondents shared real-life experiences such as, "A subordinate deleted all necessary data and removed the memory from their computer before resigning," "They scattered documents and became unreachable, making it extremely difficult to organize and hand over their work," "The person who resigned made false claims of harassment," and "I received a farewell email filled with complaints."

Regarding this, Maho Kawahara, CEO of Skora Consult, explained that employees tend to feel dissatisfied when their work is different from what they expected, when they are assigned difficult tasks, or when they receive poor evaluations from their supervisors. She added, "If employees feel they are not being treated fairly by their supervisors or colleagues, their dissatisfaction can explode, increasing the likelihood of retaliatory actions." However, she noted that it is not common for such dissatisfaction to lead to resignation or retaliatory behavior. She also warned that engaging in a revenge resignation could have a negative impact on the employee's future career.

The media outlet reported, "Malicious actions before resignation may be subject to punishment or claims for damages," and emphasized the importance of having the mindset that "a flying bird does not dirty its own trail."